


Did You Think We'd All Dream the Same?

by Snow



Category: Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Community: au_bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-05
Updated: 2011-01-05
Packaged: 2017-10-14 10:51:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/148457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snow/pseuds/Snow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard is the vampire, Alec is looking for the same thing he usually is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Did You Think We'd All Dream the Same?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my [au_bingo card](http://snow.dreamwidth.org/79240.html?#cutid1) for the square Fantasy & Supernatural: Vampires.
> 
> Betaed by torches.

The young man walked into Riverside with his head held high and his throat bared. He walked quickly down the few street that were wide enough to keep him slightly safe, letting the sunlight catch in his hair. The faint breeze made the scholar's robe he wore flutter around him, almost tripping him up several times. Richard couldn't see any weapons on him, and the man didn't hold himself like he was carrying weapons, but the idea of going into Riverside unarmed and human was beyond suicidal.

Richard clung to the shadows as he followed, and he counted the number of times he could have reached out and grabbed the young man until he ran out of fingers. Richard couldn't explain why he hadn't, other than the fact that he was curious about what this human in the robes of a scholar wanted with Riverside.

"If you're going to follow me without doing anything you could at least introduce yourself," came the man's voice once they were halfway into Riverside, the streets long-since turned too narrow for him to even make a pretense of staying in the sunshine.

Richard was aware that there wasn't anyone else he could be talking to - the other vampires knew well enough to leave what he'd claimed alone - and he was far past having played his hand. He was also certain by this point that the man was as unarmed as he looked. He stepped forward out of the shadows, looking into green eyes that even here, in the heart of the worst part of town, seemed to shine. From this close he could smell the boy's blood pulsing in his veins and see the way he hunched under his scholar's robes, not with fear or the chill of the air but simply because he thought hunching was less effort. Richard bared sharp fangs in a smile. "Richard St Vier."

The not-quite-a-scholar hissed in a breath of arousal rather than fear. He tilted his head, exposing his neck even more than the lack of collar on his shirt already had. His hands stayed open at his sides. "If you have a need of names, Alec will do for me."

Richard considered him carefully, almost immediately discarding the possibility of using a direct approach and simply demanding to know what Alec was doing in Riverside. "Can I help you?" Richard was careful to keep his tone solicitous and his teeth hidden in his mouth, making the offer much less threatening than his introduction had been, since intimidation tactics clearly weren't going to work.

Alec looked disappointed, though it was hard to be certain over the care with which he held himself. Then he parted his lips, tongue darting out to wet them before he spoke. Richard watched, fascinated by the gesture and caught in anticipation of the words, as he found it impossible to guess what Alec might say. "I'm sure you can," Alec replied eventually, his tone studiously seductive. Richard wondered why Alec was going through the motions of proving his attractiveness when he didn't expect Richard to follow through with any logical actions associated there.

Richard stepped close enough to trace a finger down Alec's jugular vein. Alec, rather predictably by this point, didn't even flinch, and Richard was sure he knew what he'd come to Riverside for. Richard didn't turn people, though, not unless he knew there wasn't an alternative. "You'd have to tell me what you want help _with_."

Alec grinned back. "Just do what comes naturally." Richard noticed now, with Alec held still by Richard's presence, that his sleeves hung down past his bony wrists, and that Alec's capitulation was complete, despite the challenging edge.

Richard certainly wasn't going to kill him, not when it meant he'd never figure out the mystery and not when there was no advantage to killing Alec other than the chance to taste his blood, and there were plenty of other, more enjoyable, ways to achieve that end. Besides, since Alec hadn't specified, even if it was clear what he meant, Richard didn't have to interpret it that way.

He wrapped his own cloak a little tighter around himself to give Alec less things to grab at should this be some kind of a trap - though Alec hardly struck him as that type. If he had, Richard wouldn't have taken that extra step forward, sliding his hand around through the scholar's hair and bending his head down to make him meet Richard's lips.

Alec yielded almost instantly, opening his lips to Richard's hesitant tongue and slouching more so Richard didn't have to reach up to him any longer. Richard showed his appreciation with a groan and by sliding one hand from the scholar's long hair to grab his shoulder, while his other hand found its way to the man's ass.

Alec let Richard have his way with his mouth, clearly taking enjoyment in the extended kiss, until he jerked back suddenly, holding hands out in front of him. "That's not what you were supposed to do." He sounded petulant, like a child who hadn't yet learned that he wouldn't be given a sweet just because he wanted it.

Richard shrugged, only drawing back as much as Alec was insisting he do so, and not an inch more. "It was what I've wanted to do since I saw you."

"Aren't you supposed to want to bite me?" Alec still sounded sulky, but there was an element of expectation in it now.

Richard couldn't hold in his laugh at that, though the fact that he'd laughed at Alec made him feel obligated to give the young man some more distance between them. "Is all that you know of me that I have a reputation, but not what that reputation is?"

Alec looked highly miffed to have been laughed at, his mouth twisting into a sneer. "I know that you're dangerous, the other vampires fear you, and you're wanted for murder."

Richard fought with the urge to lash out at the scholar for taking such liberties with his speech when he didn't understand the situation, but he didn't have to fight hard. There was something about Alec that demanded Richard forgive him for affronts that he hadn't even committed yet. "The murder charge is exaggerated." Though by all rights it shouldn't be, Richard _did_ kill a human being outside the allowed bounds of doing so. He didn't make the rules about which members of society were deemed important enough to be missed. He simply abided by them.

"You did kill someone, though," Alec said, like that was something Richard should be proud of, something he could claim as an accomplishment.

"I've killed lots of people." Richard bared his fangs again, needing to show them off in order to keep his equilibrium in this conversation.

"And some of them outside the bounds of an approved battle and feeding?"

"One of them," Richard replied, his voice as sharp as his teeth. "It won't happen again."

Alec smiled, all flat human teeth and careful charm. "It could. I wouldn't mind."

Richard snorted, giving Alec a dismissive once-over. "Of course you wouldn't, you'd be dead."

Alec did a much better appreciative glance than Richard had managed, perhaps because he truly did approve of every inch of Richard, including the part where Richard was threatening death. "Is that an offer?"

Richard couldn't bring himself to approve of Alec's words. "Of course it isn't. Go back to the University, Alec, you'll have better luck finding someone there to off you than you will convincing me to."

"You remembered my name," Alec purred, and it wasn't fair that he managed distracting so well.

"Yes, I did." Richard clung to his irritation to keep from being completely charmed. "We're still in the middle of a conversation."

"There is that." Alec offered it like a peace branch, when it bore no resemblance to anything of the kind. "I still know that you're St Vier."

Richard had the impression that Alec expected his name to serve as a reminder of something, but he just shrugged. "I'd rather you called me Richard."

"I'd rather-" Alec started, but Richard didn't let him finish, instead cutting him off with a kiss pressed to the man's lips. Alec struggled for a second, not to pull away, but like he was trying to make Richard hurt him. Richard smiled into the kiss, not afraid of this game, as he brought his arms up to brace Alec and keep the kiss firmly under his control, and gentle.

"You don't have to be afraid to hurt me," Alec murmured when Richard remembered that humans need air and pulled back.

Richard reached out a hand, letting it tangle in the other man's hair. " _Someone_ has to be."

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome and appreciate comments, including constructive criticism.


End file.
